Conditional

This is quite an easy one. Wherever you prefix an English verb with the word ‘would’, but without using the auxiliary verb ‘have’, you are using the conditional tense. Prefixing an English verb with the words ‘would have’ (‘I would have walked home’) is different – this would be the ‘conditional perfect’ tense (still in the conditional mood, but a different tense), so it is only if the verb concerned is immediately prefixed by ‘would’ in English.

Of course, the verb ‘have’ in itself could be prefixed with the word ‘would’ (‘They would have a pet cat, if…’), and this is conditional – it's only if ‘have’ is being used as an auxiliary verb that the tense would become the conditional perfect.

Examples of the conditional tense: ‘I would go, but I'm busy’; ‘He would walk home’; ‘They would not believe me’; ‘I would have a burger if I wasn't on a diet.’